Q: Theres been a couple of line up changes in Nine Inch Nails in recent months, what happened?
A: We've had the relatively sudden departure of two of our band members. Josh Freese, our drummer of a very good long time, is leaving because he decided he is touring too much. So that wasnt terribly sudden but it was sudden enough, it was unexpected. Then Alessandro Cortini, who has also been in the fold for many years and played keyboards, guitars and was our sound design person, he decided that he wants to focus all his energies on his solo stuff, which is great for him but unfortunate for us. We were sad to see him go because he was a great asset and he was very flexible and interesting and very much leading edge. We have found a drummer. We auditioned a few people and we found a guy called Ilan Rubin from LostProphets. He is very young but he is a very heavy hitter and very dynamic - very Bonham-esque. So that rounded out the rhythm section of the band.
Q: What about a replacement for Alessandro?
A: What we came to relise is thet untimely, it was not superflous, but something that all three of us - myself Robin (Finck) and Trent - can all cover. Because there is alot of keyboard work in Nine Inch Nails that is all incidental and lies very much in the background and sometimes lies very much in the foreground. For those moments in the foreground, Trent thought it would be okay for him to play them. So you can expect to see him more on instruments than in the past. So basically what were doing is, and Australia was the inspiration for it, experimenting with a very different NIN live format - more raw, more rugger a little bit more alive. It a bit more guitaristic. With only four people onstage in terms of layout and lighting. We are going through that right now - all the possibilities on how to light it, how much more intimate it will be. It's a work in progress. We are also going to be playing somgs that hav'nt been heard for a while, songs that have been put on the backburner due to limitations of a very high value production value of the previous tour.
Q: So you are scaling back the production?
A: Having a big production is a blessing and a curse - its a blessing because you get to blow peoples minds beacause its spectacular with the gadgetry production, staging and whatnot. And on the otehr hand one could argue, and I'm not necessarily saying this is the case, that heavy production value and seperate positions onstage for everybody limits the fire in the material to some degree. So we are exploring ways of renderind older material as well and giving it a new edge so we can change the set list more often. We're working hard on the theoretical side of it right now, and come January we will be back in the studio figuring out how to do it all. There will be a whole new lighting design and Australia is where it will be unveiled.
Q: It sounds like alot of work.
A: It's alot of work; we all ahve to relearn 20 more Nine Inch Nails songs that haven't been played in a long time. We already know a good 70. There's that part, then theres adapting yourself physically to a new production strategy and that comes last - you have to be ready for it. One of the benefits of this 4-piece structure over the 5-peice is if the audience does call out songs we can play them without sending waves of panic through the lighting crew of whatever. The current show dosnt really lend itself to that and Trent finds it really restrictive. It's hard because he likes what we did cause its so dramatic and spectacular. It's difficult for me not to boast about it, technologically it's leading edge, but now it's a different path and it's still great. It's going to be different.
